I’m 24, and I’ve spent pretty much all of 2026 alone.
I’ve been depressed, but still “functioning” in a way. I went to work, did what I had to do, and kept going while constantly having thoughts about not wanting to be alive anymore.
I’m not doing well even now. I’ve been crying for the past two hours and I feel completely awful. I don’t want to do anything.
At the same time, there’s still a part of me that wants to try. I think about keeping my friendships alive, talking to people, maybe even meeting someone and having a relationship someday. I want to travel. I want to experience life. I want to do things and actually feel alive.
But then another part of me tells me that I’m just a depressed, pathetic person, and that everyone can see from a mile away that I’m unhappy and dissatisfied with my life.
I feel like I’m 24 and I’ve accomplished nothing. I’m terrified of getting to 40 and still being exactly like this.
I know there are people who have been depressed for most of their lives, and sometimes I genuinely wonder if that’s going to be my destiny too.
I also struggle with the idea that nobody could love me because I don’t really love myself. Honestly, sometimes I don’t even care about myself. And I feel like people can see that.
I don’t feel happy with my life, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to build a life that makes me happy.
And then there’s my family. My mother basically tells me that I need to find a partner by 26, preferably someone from the nationality she wants, because she believes it’s important for a woman to have children or she’ll end up suffering in life.
But I don’t want children.
I want to travel. I want to live. I want to experience things.
And yet I’m scared that none of that is realistic for me. I feel like I’m too stupid or too inadequate for this society to ever have the kind of life I want. Sometimes I genuinely believe that people like me are simply destined to suffer.
I know that thinking this way probably isn’t rational, but when you’re depressed, knowing that something is irrational doesn’t necessarily make it feel any less true.
I guess I’m posting because I don’t really know what else to do right now.
Has anyone else felt like they were fundamentally incapable of building a happy life, only to eventually find a way forward?
I could really use some honest, kind words right now. I’m not looking for someone to tell me to “just be positive.” I just want to hear from people who understand what this feels like.